Trump revives Canada should become the 51st state threat in a room full of top U.S. military generals

After months without rhetoric and outright trolling about Canada becoming the 51st state, U.S. Donald Trump brought it up again on Tuesday.

Approaching the halfway mark of a 72-minute address to hundreds of U.S. military officials summoned to Virginia, Trump claimed work on the “Golden Dome Missile Defence Shield” was proceeding and that Canada had recently contacted him to say “they want to be a part of it.”

“To which I said, ‘Well, why don’t you just join our country? You become the 51st state and you get it for free,” he suggested.

“I don’t know if that made a big impact, but it does make a lot of sense, because they’re having a hard time up there in Canada now because, as you know, with tariffs, everyone’s coming into our country.”

National Post has contacted the Prime Minister’s Office for more comment and more information. A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, meanwhile, promised a response by the end of the week.

The White House bills the Golden Dome as a multilayered missile defence program to counter threats to America, even those coming from foreign-controlled satellites. Its cost is estimated at US$175 billion.

A Congressional Budget Office report released in May exploring the cost of maintaining only space-based interceptors for 20 years estimated it at between $161 billion for the “lowest-cost alternative” and $542 billion for the top tier.

Trump’s suggestions that Canada join the U.S. began in December, before he was sworn in as President.

It was first reported in December 2024 following a meeting between former prime minister Justin Trudeau and top ministers and incoming Trump officials at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida, where the president-elect reportedly joked about it.

The meeting came after Trump’s earlier remarks about the alleged trade deficit between the two countries, which he pegged at $100 billion, and the suggestion that 25 per cent tariffs would be deployed in response.

In a Truth Social post in the days after the meeting, Trump referred to Trudeau as the governor of Canada, something he would do repeatedly in the weeks that followed.

He did so again in the days after the resignation of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, whose behaviour in negotiations he described as “totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals.”

“No one can answer why we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year,” he wrote in another post two days later . “Makes no sense! Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State. They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!”

Before Christmas, his son, Eric Trump, shared a doctored image of a fake Amazon shopping cart showing Canada , along with Greenland and the Panama Canal, as contents. Trump claimed at the time that the U.S. should be able to claim the latter two for strategic purposes.

After Trudeau announced his resignation in early January, Trump — again stating that Canadians support the 51st state idea — said the former Liberal Leader did so because of the “massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat.”

In an early February interview on FOX, Trump inflated the deficit to $200 billion and said he wouldn’t mind as much if Canada became the 51st state.

Mark Carney, not long after claiming the Liberal Leadership in March, said Trump brought it up again during a congratulatory call, despite earlier telling reporters that the subject wasn’t broached.

“We talked about lots of things, okay,” Carney responded when asked about the remarks in April . “And what’s important is the conclusions of the call, the results of the call, and those are exactly the same on the American side and the Canadian side… And those were that it was very constructive.”

Days before the federal election that would see Carney become prime minister, Trump said Canada “would cease to exist as a country” if the U.S. stopped buying its goods and that it would exist better as a state, according to the Associated Press.

No one can answer why we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year? Makes no sense! Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State. They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!Donald Trump Truth Social…

— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) December 18, 2024

Around the same time, he told TIME magazine’s senior political correspondent Eric Cortellessa and editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs that he was “really not trolling” when it comes to the 51st state talk.

On election day, he took to Truth Social and asked Canadian voters to “elect the man” who will let Canada join the U.S., prompting Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to tell the president to “stay out of our election.”

In early May, when Carney and Trump met in person for the first time, when reporters asked the president about Canada becoming the 51st state, he said “never say never.” Carney, to his left, can be seen mouthing the word “never.”

In late May, Carney and a Canadian contingent went to Washington for a sit-down with Trump and his administration, where the president reportedly said Canada could gain protection under the Golden Dome for US$61 billion (CAD$83 billion) or earn it for free by becoming the 51st state.

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